How are Things Going?

Friends ask me -- How are things going in Ministry?

Invariably I say - Ministry is going well.

That said, I know I have many vices, and one of them is impatience. I know that a Fruit of the Spirit is patience, but it is a Fruit I am not as good at growing as I would hope.

But patient is what I am called to be. We continue to show slow, but steady improvement in attendance, stewardship, membership and discipleship.

Our attendance is probably the most dramatic increase, where we have gone from 34 people on an average Sunday to right at 62 in less than four years. Our goal is to be at 100 by 2010.

Our membership, stewardship and discipleship have shown increases that we also are prayerful will continue to rise. I am of the view that increasing Sunday Attendance leads to the others having some increase.

In a main line denominatioin that is nationally showing declining numbers, why are we increasing?

Relationship is my start point in trying to explain this.

I inherited a congregation that was highly relational, and we have retained that flavor. We tell people we are a Cheers church -- a place where everybody knows your name. People regularly ask me who a person is who has been there more than once.

Related to the relational aspect is the time we spend in worship with Blessings and Concerns. We try to lift both up and mention them to all. I think this is part of the relationship building that is going on, and while it sometimes makes getting to the end by 10:15 AM (meaning one hour for the total service) a little dicey, I think it is part of the DNA that we have to honor and must sustain.

I sometimes use imagery drawn from the Walk to Emmaus model (a church renewal program sponsored by The Upper Room out of Nashville). Here my view is that our faith relationship needs to be like a three legged stool. The three legs are relationships with God, others, and yourself. Each leg needs to be about the same length. When one is overly long or overly short, the three legged stool is not balanced, and we slide off.

How are things going? Well. I am prayerful that we can slowly, steadily, continue to show increases for the Kingdom in 2007. That is my fervent prayer and hope.

Peace.